Journalists Visit Plantation in Mamuju to Improve Knowledge of Palm Oil

Ten journalists participated in Journalist Fellowship Program organized by the Indonesia Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) visited an oil palm plantation at Motu Village, Baras, North Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Wednesday (1/5/2019). The visit to plantation managed by PT Unggul Widya Teknologi Lestari was a part of Journalist Fellowship Program to improve their knowledge and skill of news reporting about palm oil in the area of environment, health, economic impact, sustainability standard, palm oil products as well as other relevant issues. At the plantation, participants had a few practices seeding and planting oil palm.

Journalists Visit Plantation in Mamuju to Improve Knowledge of Palm Oil

Ten journalists participated in Journalist Fellowship Program organized by the Indonesia Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) visited an oil palm plantation at Motu Village, Baras, North Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Wednesday (1/5/2019). The visit to plantation managed by PT Unggul Widya Teknologi Lestari was a part of Journalist Fellowship Program to improve their knowledge and skill of news reporting about palm oil in the area of environment, health, economic impact, sustainability standard, palm oil products as well as other relevant issues. At the plantation, participants had a few practices seeding and planting oil palm.

The visit also provided participants hands-on knowledge of some aspect of sustainable palm oil, included aspect of environment, international trade, health, and food products. They are journalists who work for Bisnis Indonesia, Media Indonesia, Koran Sindo, Rakyat Merdeka, Warta Ekonomi, Business Today, Neraca, Times Indonesia, akuratnews, and LKBN ANTARA. BPDPKS Director of Partnership Tulus Budhianto showed appreciation and expressed gratitude to PT Unggul Widya Teknologi Lestari for its cooperation and providing opportunity for participants of Journalist Fellowship Program to improve knowledge of palm oil.

“We really appreciate all the support PT Unggul Widya Teknologi Lestari gave. We expect all journalists can learn and acquire more knowledge during visit to the plantation,” Tulus said. Meanwhile, PT Unggul Widya Teknologi Lestari was delighted to help journalists improve their knowledge of palm oil. They expected the program organized by BPDPKS can help journalists to promote Indonesian palm oil.

On their return trip to Makassar, all participants broke their journey as floods covered roads near Lariang Village, Pasangkayu. The flash floods cut off road access in the village. All journalists were evacuated by trucks owned by PT Unggul Widya Teknologi Lestari. The trucks were also used for  evacuating local people to safe locations. ***